This week we’re joined once again by Irini M., who brings us news from her home country’s Thessaloniki Film Festival in a notably more concise fashion than September’s Venice round-up. She also joins in our discussion of some interesting recent events, which includes some rare exciting news involving David O. Russell, and the bizarre spectrum of films vying for this year’s Animated Feature Oscar. We discuss two Foreign Language Oscar contenders, as Paolo Virzi’s “Human Capital” enlivens the middle-class misery of bourgeois Italy and Andrey Zvyagintsev’s “Leviathan” documents the coastal conflicts of rural Russia, before giving ambition a dressing down, as Christopher Nolan’s epic “Interstellar” comes to town. We reveal whether the cinematic influences used in the film are a blessing or curse, and whether Nolan’s scope and logic holds up under scrutiny. Elsewhere, we recount a horror show from Venice which saw Pete become a gay advocate, a mistaken text briefly convinced Cal that his niece was a child genius, while Keira Knightley’s recent quest to boost female self-image has us rather baffled.

The Week’s News:

Darren Aronofsky to head the jury at next year’s Berlin Film Festival

David O. Russell’s long-delayed “Nailed” re-titled as “Love in Politics” and scheduled for release in the UK

Animated Feature Oscar qualifying list is announced

European Film Award nominations are announced

[3:05 – 20:55]

Opening Segment: Irini M. provides a round-up of the Thessaloniki Film Festival, which includes discussion of films by Peter Strickland, Susanne Bier, and Mia Hansen-Love!

[21:00 – 34:45]

Preconception Corner

Reviews of:

Leviathan

Human Capital

[43:25 – 1:01:30]

Closing Segment: Our take on Christopher Nolan’s space-set epic “Interstellar,” and discussing cine-literate films, with comment on “Allegro,” “Kill Bill,” and “Once Upon a Time in the West”!

In this week’s episode we finally put 2013 to bed with discussion of Sunday’s Oscar ceremony, which features theories on how rule changes may have helped a certain Italian film, and when on earth Amy Adams will get her moment in the sun. A listener question turns our attention to acting winners of years gone by, while we review airborne mystery/thriller “Non-Stop,” the first part of the racy “Nymphomaniac,” and Akiva Goldsman’s bewildering “A New York Winter’s Tale.” We have our say on holocaust drama “The Book Thief,” but did its Oscar-nominated score make as much impact on us as its intermittent voice-over? Plus: listen to find out how Uma Thurman is channelling Gena Rowlands this week, why Lars Von Trier’s use of Shostakovich is questionable, and a story from Pete about how unwelcome ‘entertainment’ almost turned nasty. It’s all about the badinage.

This week’s episode is heavy on narcotics, as we discuss the pill-popping patients in Jean Marc Vallee’s “Dallas Buyers Club,” the coke-fuelled antics of the stockbrokers in Martin Scorsese’s “The Wolf of Wall Street,” and the hallucinogenic charms of indie Chilean adventure “Crystal Fairy.” We give our lengthy verdicts on this year’s Oscar nominations, offering our best and worst picks, speculating which films would have made the cut in the old-fashioned system, and discussing historical low points for the Academy. Tune in to find out how Mary Pickford bought her Oscar, whether Pete managed to finish a film this week, and why next week’s flock of facial hair spells disaster for Melvil.

Preconception Corner

Reviews of:

The Wolf of Wall Street

Crystal Fairy

Dallas Buyers Club

[10:40 – 43:10]

Closing Segment: Discussing the recently announced Oscar nominations, and speculating on the various races![43:40 – 1:09:20]

Following up on last week’s listener question we take time out to discuss NBC’s Hannibal, which we have now watched all of despite Pete’s lack of enthusiasm for it last week. We discuss the show’s merits, and whether we think the network will cancel or renew it, as well as broadening the theme to offer our favourite movies about serial killers. As for the reviews, we tackle Jeff Nichols’ follow-up to “Take Shelter,” “Mud,” starring Cal’s favourite Southern gal Reese Witherspoon, and Eric Bana thriller “Deadfall,” which features some questionable accents. The ever-rugged Paul Walker lured Cal into sitting down for “Vehicle 19,” while Pete’s Asian allegiance led him to martial arts crime drama “Dragon.” And before all of that we kick off the episode by venting our thoughts about “Star Trek Into Darkness,” which neither of us was particularly looking forward to. Sit back and listen for digressions involving Terry Gilliam (yes! again!), the return of The Huston Factor, and yet more bitching about football. Don’t worry: the season’s nearly over!